Martyr of charity

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Martyr of charity is a Catholic term for someone who dies because of acts of charity or Christian love. It is not the same as a martyr of the faith, who dies for being Christian. This is an unofficial form of martyrdom in canon law. A well-known example is Maximilian Kolbe. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI and given the honorary title martyr of charity. When he was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982, the title remained an honorary label rather than an official canon-law designation; John Paul II ruled that the Nazi hatred of humanity was, in effect, a hatred of the faith, and he recognized Kolbe as a martyr in that sense.